John Carpenter Slams The Original ‘Friday The 13th’: It ‘Doesn’t Rise Above its Cheapness’

John Carpenter Slams The Original 'Friday The 13th': It 'Doesn’t Rise Above its Cheapness'

John Carpenter paved the way for the slasher genre in 1978 with his thriller “Halloween.” Remembered as one of the best horror films of its kind, there’s no surprise that after the mega-successful flick was released, copies soon followed.

Speaking with author and screenwriter Bret Easton Ellis, the helmer discussed the horror films that came after his iconic picture and compared Sean Cunningham’s “Friday the 13th” and “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” to “Halloween.”

“One sprints from an organic idea and has a truly artist’s eye working,” he stated. “And ‘Friday the 13th,’ I feel, affects me as very cynical. It’s very cynical moviemaking. It just doesn’t rise above its cheapness.”

Adding, “I think the reason that all these slasher movies came in the ’80s was a lot of folks said, ‘Look at that ‘Halloween’ movie. It was made for peanuts, and look at the money it’s made! We can make money like that. That’s what the teenagers want to see. So they just started making them, cranking them out… most of them were awful.”

“Halloween” was created with a budget of $325,000 and grossed $47 million, making it one of those most profitable indie movies of all-time. It’s no wonder everyone else jumped on board the horror train.

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